


The Thief at Mount Justice

by khaki_da



Series: shenanigans and team bonding [1]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Happy Ending, Humor, Menstruation, One Shot, Trans Character, Trans Dick Grayson, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 05:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10984734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaki_da/pseuds/khaki_da
Summary: Someone has been stealing Artemis's pads, and she will do whatever it takes to find who is responsible and bring the thief to justice.In which everyone's periods sync up, causing utter chaos, and eventually some great team bonding at the cave.





	The Thief at Mount Justice

**Author's Note:**

> you may want to check out the tags before reading. Lots of Dick Grayson angst and plenty of fluff. I should really be updating Better Get in Character, but I just had this idea and had to write it before I forgot.

Artemis woke up with her stomach in knots. The team had had an exhausting mission the night before, and no one had the energy or desire to go back home, so they all crashed at the cave. Artemis groaned and turned over on her stomach, hoping a different position might relieve the ache in her gut. But no matter how she shifted, the cramps only seemed to get worse. Suddenly she realized what her body was trying to tell her and she shot out of bed.

_Ughhh! Already?_

Her period was early. Great. She trudged over to the bathroom and rummaged through the cabinet under the sink, only to find out that someone had stolen her last pad. She stormed into the lounge. Superboy, Rocket, and Wally were watching a movie, M’gann and Kaldur were in the kitchen making breakfast, Zatanna was reading a book, and Robin was laying on the couch with his laptop, ignoring everyone else. But Artemis had no problem breaking up the peace for something as urgent as her current situation.

“Which one of you stole my last pad!” Artemis demanded.

Wally’s face dropped in horror, but everyone else was unbothered.

“Don’t look at me, I use tampons.” Zatanna stated plainly.

“Diva cup.” Rocket added.

Artemis looked accusingly towards M’gann, who took a few moments to put together what was going on, “Oh! Martians don’t really menstruate. I guess it would be possible, since we can shapeshift at the cellular level, but I don't-”

“Oh, shut _up_! One of you is lying, and I _will_ find out who it is! But for now….” she cleared her throat and her voice dropped a bit, “I really need to borrow a pad or a tampon.”

“I’m on mine too, so I got it covered. Tampons are in the bag in my room. Help yourself.” Zatanna motioned in the general direction of her room.

“Wow, really?" Rocket chimed in, "Me too! We must all be in sync!” 

“Ummm, no offense but can you babes talk about this somewhere else? It's maybe a little too much information. You’re gonna traumatize our innocent little Robin!” It had been a joke, but as soon as the words left his mouth, Wally found himself dodging a shoe, a book, and a cell phone being thrown at him. Zatanna and Artemis had made a habit out of throwing things at Wally when he'd say something ignorant, but no one expected Robin to join in on the fun. He had been ignoring the conversation up until that point, but at the mention of his name, he picked up a shoe and threw it without so much as blinking. Zatanna and Rocket burst out laughing, and Artemis gave Robin a quick high five before running to Zatanna’s room for a tampon.

When Zatanna caught her breath, she turned to Wally, “If you can handle taking on some of the nastiest supervillains around, you can handle the mention of a little blood.”

Rocket added, “If you want to trade places I’d be more than happy to have to listen to this conversation instead of having to actually live with it. This shit _hurts_.”

Wally slumped in his chair. “Right. S-sorry.”

Zatanna smirked, “Just don’t think you can get away with that kind of talk around here.” Then her smirk faded as she eyed M’gann, Kid Flash, Superboy, Kaldur and Robin, “It does suck, though. Honestly, I don’t think the five of you understand how lucky you are.”

At that, Robin shut his laptop harder than necessary and left the room without a word, leaving the rest of the group looking around at each other, confused.

Kaldur decided to enter in the conversation at that point. “Is Robin alright? He has been distant all morning. I fear something may be troubling him.”

Wally was worried Robin might be mad at him for calling him little and innocent, but it didn’t seem like something that would usually bother him this much. “I’ll check on him!” Wally was also more than happy to zip out of the room if it meant all those glares would stop burning into his soul.

 

...

 

Wally found Robin curled up in his bed, still wearing his shades.

“Hey, Rob, you okay?”

Robin just groaned and rolled over on his back, pulling his pillow over his face. He mumbled something into the pillow that Wally couldn’t understand. Wally just went over to the bed and sat down next to Robin. 

“Uh, what?” Wally asked as he pulled the pillow away from Dick's face.

“I said, it’s nothing, I’m turbed… totally traught. No dis.” Then Dick grabbed the pillow and put it over his face again.

“Dick… what’s going on, man?”

After a minute, Dick pulled the pillow back down. “I don’t think you want to hear it.” There was a slight sting in the words that neither of them were expecting.

"What? You’re my best friend, Rob. Of course I want to hear it.” Robin started to pull the pillow back over his face, but Wally grabbed it and pushed it away.

“Dude, stop that.”

“Fine.” Dick sat up.

Wally put his hand on Dick’s shoulder, “You know you don’t have to wear those around me, right?”

“Right…” Dick hesitated, but took off his sunglasses. That’s when Wally noticed that Robin’s eyes were red and a little puffy, like he’d been crying.

“Dick, are you mad at me? Look, I didn't mean what I said. You're young, but everyone knows you’re the most experienced on the team, you have nothing to prove. I’m sorry if I-”

“That’s not what it is.” Robin snapped. “But... honestly? I _am_ kind of mad at you.”

“What did I do?” Wally asked, looking down.

Dick pulled his knees in towards his chest. “Ugh! I know you won’t want to hear it. You said so yourself...” He hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.

Wally just looked even more confused. He had no idea what Dick was talking about. “I want to hear it, Rob. If you don’t want to tell me, don’t tell me, but don’t not tell me because you think I don’t want to hear it… if that makes any sense.”

“I don’t think I can, Walls. I’m sorry...” Dick felt tears begin to sting at the corners of his eyes again, so he buried his head in his knees to keep Wally from seeing them. Wally felt like Dick didn't want him there, so he begrudgingly got up. 

“I’ll leave you alone. Just, let me know if you need anything. When you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’ll listen, okay?” He got up and started walking out the door. As he reached for the door knob, Robin blurted something out...

“Wally, I’m trans.”

 

...

 

Artemis had appreciated Zatanna's offer of sharing, but she hated the feeling of tampons, so she decided to go out and buy another box of pads. Once she came back, she was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery: who stole the last pad. She decided that no one could be trusted, so she set out to work on her own. Whoever it was was probably going to try again, but this time, she would be ready for them.

Artemis wanted to catch the thief in the act. She pulled a trick arrow from her quiver, a mild flash grenade arrow- it wouldn’t be enough to hurt anyone, but it would be enough to let Artemis know when the thief returned- she plucked the tip from the arrow and stuck it inside the box of pads. Once activated, it was set to go off at any new contact or movement. It would be loud enough for Artemis to hear, and only she would know what exactly was going on. She took a step back to admire her work, then headed to the kitchen.

Artemis usually didn’t care much for M’gann’s cookies, but she could smell them from the bathroom, and now she _needed_ them.

“Hey, Artemis!” M’gann must have noticed Artemis eyeing the oven, because she explained, “Zatanna had a chocolate craving, so I thought I’d try out this new recipe I found for some double chocolate chip cookies! They’re almost done!”

Rocket was also watching the oven intently from a distance and checking the time, probably to make sure the cookies wouldn’t burn, since M'gann had a bit of a reputation for burning cookies. Suberboy was sitting on the couch, watching static on the TV as usual, and Kaldur had picked up Zatanna's book and was reading that. None of them seemed to notice that Zatanna was splayed out on the floor, the back of her hand to her forehead with the most dramatically pained expression on her face. “I… neeed… chocolaaateee….” She gasped in between words as if she was dying. Artemis just laughed and rolled her eyes. Zatanna always had a flair for dramatics. Zatanna had said it was therapeutic to be completely expressive sometimes, and not hold a single thing back. Artemis had to admit, she could see the appeal. Deep down, she would love to throw herself on the floor with Zatanna and pretend like revealing a full spectrum of emotions to the world wouldn’t change the way anyone thought of her. Zatanna didn’t care, though, and Artemis loved her for that.

The oven timer dinged as Wally walked into the lounge and sat on the couch.

“Where’s Robin, he ok?” Rocket asked as M’gann used her telekinesis to pull the tray of cookies from the oven.

“He’s good,” Wally had just had a nice heart to heart with his best friend, and Robin had told him that he just needed a minute to himself before facing the rest of the team. “he’ll come out here in a minute, just went to the bathroom, I think.”

With that, they all heard the sound of Artemis’ grenade and a loud thud. Artemis was already rushing down the hall, with everyone else following close behind. Artemis practically kicked the door down.

“You little troll! What the hell, Robin?” 

Robin stared up at Artemis and everyone behind her. Luckily, no one could see how wide with terror his eyes were behind his sunglasses. He had accidentally knocked over the box of pads when the grenade went off, so some were scattered on the floor. He knew it wouldn’t take long for everyone to figure out what was going on.

“I-I- it’s not what it looks like... I...”

Zatanna ran in front of Artemis and turned to face everyone else. “Evael dna tegrof tahw uoy was ereh!” Then everyone walked away, leaving only Dick and Zatanna.

She sat down next to Robin and put her hand over his. “So... do any of them know?”

Dick slumped down and let the back of his head hit the wall behind him. “Just Wally. And you, now, I guess.”

“I’m really sorry. If I could make myself forget, too, I would. You shouldn’t have to come out before you’re ready. But, just so you know, it wouldn’t change a thing. If anyone even thinks about giving you a hard time, they’ll have me to deal with.” She smirked and gave Dick's hand a light squeeze.

“Thanks, Z… I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t have to say anything. When and if you’re ever ready to tell the team. I’ll be right behind you, okay?” She stood up and held out her hand for him. He let her pull him up only to fall into her arms in a hug. They held each other for a few long moments, then he pulled back.

“I think I’m ready. I mean, worst case scenario, you can just make them forget again, right?” He laughed, but was only half joking.

Zatanna just winked and walked away.

 

...

 

When Robin made his way back to the lounge, everyone was sitting on the couches, eating M’gann’s cookies. They looked surprisingly unburned. That was when Dick realized he’d forgotten to eat anything all day. He sandwiched himself between Wally and Zatanna and indulged in a few delicious double chocolate chip cookies before finally clearing his throat to speak.

“I, uh… have something I’ve been wanting to tell you all.”

Wally and Zatanna both subconsciously inched a bit closer to Robin, ready to come to his defence if he needed it.

“Is everything alright, Robin?” Kaldur asked.

“Um, yeah. Well, no. I mean, it will be once I can just get this over with…”

Everyone just stared, waiting for Robin to continue.

“Artemis, I’m the one who’s been stealing your pads.” He paused, expecting outrage. Instead, she just looked confused.

“Okay, I guess I really have to just say it, don’t I?” he laughed nervously, then took a deep breath. “I’m trans. This is actually my first time dealing with this kind of thing.” He gestured to his lap and rambled on. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen here. I mean, not that I would have been any more prepared back home… but I guess I just synced up with everyone else and I freaked out, I didn’t know what to do, so I stole some of your pads, Arty. I’ll replace them. I just.. Shit…” he trailed off when tears started to build up again.

M’gann and Superboy looked concerned, but confused. Neither of them really knew what any of this meant. M’gann was a shapeshifter, and she had taken several different forms over the years, gender had never been something she really thought about. Things were different on Earth, though. Superboy just didn’t understand the terminology, as Cadmus hadn’t programed it into him when he was created.

Dick groaned, knowing he’d have to explain. “I’m a boy, okay? But, I have a… I mean… well… _shit_ I didn’t think this would be so hard…”

Surprisingly, Artemis came to the rescue, “You’re a boy with an ‘F’ written on your birth certificate. Got it. You still better replace my pads, though.” She teased and gave him a comforting smile.

“Robin, I am honored that you trust us with this information. I’m sure it must have taken a great deal of courage.” Kaldur said.

“So… you don’t think of me differently?” Robin looked around at everyone in the room.

“Are you kidding? You’re like our little brother! Of course we don’t! We freaking love you, okay?” Rocket said warmly, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Then Robin wiped the tears from his eyes and laughed. “Well, that’s pretty asterous of you all.”

“So, this is your first period then?” Rocket asked. Robin looked at his feet, but nodded.

“First one’s the worst one." Rocket finished, "Good thing you don’t have to soldier through it alone, right? I think we could all use a good period party.”

That got a grin from Robin. “A what?”

“You know, ice cream, pillow fortresses, movies, comfort food, massage trains. Whatever we want!” Artemis raised her fist in the air, and Zatanna cheered her on.

“Dude. I am so in.” Wally chirped. “I’ll get the food!” Then he rushed off. The Zeta tube announced his arrival seconds after his departure. He came back with tubs of ice cream, a stack of pizzas, and a few video games and movies.

They all ran to their rooms and grabbed all the pillows and blankets from their beds, then threw them all over the lounge floor.

“Ekam su a wollip ssertrof!” Zatanna chanted, and the pillows and blankets magically rearranged themselves into the most enchanting pillow fort any of them had ever seen. Zatanna, Rocket, Artemis, and Wally all snuggled Robin right away in a messy dogpile. M’gann and Kaldur laughed, then joined the cuddle pile. Even wolf cuddled up next to them. Finally, Superboy’s mouth twitched up into a grin, and he let himself fall on top of the dog pile, crushing everyone underneath, before asking,

  
“So, what are we watching?”

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on [tumblr](https://khaki-da.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
